Tension at the table

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 5

by Rev. Joanna Harader
Peace Mennonite Church
Lawrence, Kansas, August 3, 2008

I invite you to dig into your memories and imaginations. Envision the table. It’s a big table, with all the leaves put in. The table is covered by Aunt Betty’s table cloth that doesn’t quite reach the ends. There are lots of chairs around the table—six nice wooden ones, a few wobbly chairs brought up from the basement, a couple of metal folding chairs, and, of course, the piano bench where the two smallest have to sit and share the curved end of the table.

It’s supposed to be a nice meal. The food is good. There is an air of celebration. Things are going well. Grandpa says, “Amen.” You say, “Please pass the Jello salad.” But then Uncle Herman says, “Can you believe those anti-family kooks up in Massachusetts, letting gay people get married?” And your cousin Frank, who is still in the closet, looks intently at his mashed potatoes. Continue reading “Tension at the table” →

What do we remember?

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 4

by Gareth Brandt
Emmanuel Mennonite Church
bbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, November 11, 2007

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

On Remembrance Day in Canada, our country asks us to remember the sacrifice of soldiers who died and are dying in battle. “Armistice Day” was the original name given to this national holiday that began in 1919 to remember the First World War as the “war to end all wars.” Armistice is about the laying down of weapons.

Sadly, World War 1 was not the war to end all wars but the war that began the bloodiest century in the history of humankind. Guns have not been laid down; rather, more sophisticated weaponry has been invented. We have a day of remembrance, but it seems we have amnesia. We forget and repeat the vicious cycles of violence all over again.

Without memory we are bound to repeat the mistakes of history. Memory is also one of the primary handles we have for understanding the roots of our faith. Though we experience faith in the present, those experiences are built on the foundation of memory. Memory keeps the significance of past events relevant and meaningful for the present.
Continue reading “What do we remember?” →

Praying an Anabaptist office

by Chris Labadie

This semester, as part of Fr. Anthony’s School of Theology•Seminary course on the Liturgy of the Hours, we had the assignment of praying an intentional “office” experience and journaling about how the prayer connected with our daily life and the course materials.

I chose to spend the week of Easter praying morning and evening prayers from Take Our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayer Book. This was a fascinating exercise – coming from my usual base in the more traditional aspects of Catholic liturgy – because historically the Anabaptist worship tradition is much freer and rooted in the movement of the Spirit. “Anabaptist” is an umbrella term for various groups growing out of the “Radical Reformation” – Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Brethren, Bruderhof, Apostolic Christian Church – but from what I have researched Take our Moments and Days is associated primarily with Mennonites. The idea that there would be a set form of liturgical worship in the Anabaptist tradition intrigued me because I wondered how this would work with the freer worship style.

Continue reading “Praying an Anabaptist office” →

Communion as pledge to friends, neighbors, and enemies

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 3

by Mary Lehman Yoder
Assembly Mennonite Church
Goshen, Indiana, July 20, 2008

Ephesians 2:11 ff; John 13:34 ff

Back in 2002 when the propaganda war regarding Al Q’eda and Iraq was running at full steam, I heard that Rich Meyer, who has frequently served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, was floating a proposal around:

Our nation is gearing up for war. The Pledge of Allegiance is starting to be used as a measuring stick at best or a club at worst. How shall we respond? We should celebrate communion every Sunday!

Continue reading “Communion as pledge to friends, neighbors, and enemies” →

Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites, part two: bearing pain for the good of the church

The following interview was first published on the blog of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, “On Our Minds.” To see the original post go to http://collegevilleinstitute.org/blog/mennonite-catholics-catholic-mennonites-part-two.

By Janel Kragt Bakker, Collegeville Institute

In Part One of our interview with Gerald Schlabach, Ivan Kauffman, and Weldon Nisly, all of whom are leaders in Bridgefolk (the North American Mennonite-Catholic dialogue), we discussed the origins of contemporary Mennonite-Catholic exchange as well as the gifts the two traditions offer to each other. Though sources of attraction between the Catholic and Mennonite traditions vary, Schlabach, Kauffman, and Nisly identified Mennonite strengths in service and lay participation, and Catholic strengths in sacramental life. Participants in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue are often united by their shared commitment to peace and justice as well as their desire to build understanding and a sense of common purpose across the two traditions. In Part Two of the interview, we discuss how those involved in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue navigate painful divisions and cultural trends hostile to community and tradition.

Continue reading “Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites, part two: bearing pain for the good of the church” →

Palm Sunday homily: The messiah of peace

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 2

by Abbot John Klassen
Saint John’s Abbey
Collegeville, Minnesota, April 27, 2008

For a long time I have puzzled about the detailed instructions Jesus gives to his disciples regarding the colt he is to ride into Jerusalem. In the Gospels, Jesus is not an arranger; he is always moving and speaking on the fly. But in this instance, he has set this all up. He’s taking pains to stage this event, to send a particular message.

Unlike the rest of his passion, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is his own initiative. It is a symbolic action at Passover time, when Jerusalem is filled with pilgrims, that manifests the meaning of his life and mission. This symbolic action is also a final plea to the religious authorities who have already decided to condemn him to death after the raising of Lazarus. Continue reading “Palm Sunday homily: The messiah of peace” →

Announcing new online series:
We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine

We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine:
Mennonite and Roman Catholic Reflections on Eucharist and Peacemaking

As Bridgefolk participants grow in understanding and appreciating the profound gifts of each other’s traditions, we are discovering how deeply the practice of eating together at the Lord’s Table sustains and enriches our life of Christian discipleship and peacemaking. Fed and nourished by the gift of Christ’s love, we are strengthened to share the peace of Christ in the church and in the world.

To illuminate this vital connection, Bridgefolk has begun a new online series, of sermons and homilies that connect discipleship and peacemaking with the Eucharist or Lords’ Supper. The first installment, “The Table of Countercultural Mission,” was preached by Mennonite pastor Daniel P. Schrock at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen, Indiana. Go to http://www.bridgefolk.net/eucharistic-peacemaking to read, or find guidelines for submitting sermons and homilies on these themes for inclusion in this online collection.

The table of countercultural mission

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 1

by Daniel P. Schrock
Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship
Goshen, Indiana, April 27, 2008

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this. (Luke 22:19-23, NRSV)

If you want to learn countercultural mission, then eat bread and drink wine at the table of God.

When Jesus sat down at a table with his disciples on that Passover night long ago, he knew what was going on in the mind of Judas Iscariot. Somehow Jesus knew that Judas was plotting to hand him over to the temple leaders. Indeed, a few days before this last supper with the twelve, Judas had quietly visited the chief priests and officers of the temple police in Jerusalem to offer them a deal. In exchange for a fee, Judas offered to help them find Jesus after dusk, when most people in the city were tucked away in their houses for the night. Reward me, said Judas, and I’ll tell you where Jesus is, so you can arrest him under the cover of darkness (Luke 22:3-6).

Jesus knew that Judas was in the process of betraying him (see 22:21). Ponder that for a moment. Continue reading “The table of countercultural mission” →

by Rev. Joanna Harader Peace Mennonite Church Lawrence, Kansas, August 3, 2008

by Gareth Brandt Emmanuel Mennonite Church bbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, November 11, 2007

by Mary Lehman Yoder Assembly Mennonite Church Goshen, Indiana, July 20, 2008